


Pure White

by DireDesire



Series: BE: Aftermath - Aoba's stories after Koujaku's Bad End [1]
Category: DRAMAtical Murder (Visual Novel), DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Gen, Isolation, Medical Experimentation, Psychological Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-24
Updated: 2015-03-24
Packaged: 2018-03-19 11:04:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3607776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DireDesire/pseuds/DireDesire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aoba wakes up hazily after Scrap fails with Koujaku. What happens afterwards is no longer under his control as he starts to become someone darker than who he wants to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Red

It's cold. Hard. I'm lying on the floor. It's also wet... Something sticky. Lukewarm. Cooling on the tiles... Red.  
   
The tips of my blue hair soak it up, and I remember hazily... It's blood. Ryuuhou. I used my Scrap.  
   
Koujaku...  
   
I feel cold hands pick me up, and the world shifts in my sluggish view. Koujaku...? I think his gaze meets mine, just for a moment…  
   
Something's wrong... I feel the prickling in the air, but my head is throbbing, heavy.  
   
I can't fight it--with little resistance, my world goes dark again...  
   
\--  
   
I wake up. It's still cold, still hard. I'm on my back. White glares into my eyes. There's a rhythmic beeping. I manage to glance around, anything to get the light out of my eyes...  
   
I'm connected to a drip. I follow the tube down to where it meets with my arm. My chest grips tight as I find a thin hospital gown covering me.  
   
What happened? Where am I...?  
Scrap... and Koujaku...  
   
My head gives a painful lurch, and I groan.  
   
It draws attention from someone.  
   
"He's awake."  
   
I open my lips. They feel dry... I want to ask where I am, what happened, but before I can, I see the masked attendant pull out a needle.  
   
"Wait... I--" they don't wait for my muddled words to make any sense. I feel the drugs as soon as they reach my veins.  
   
The world dissolves again. I am helpless to stop it as darkness takes me.  
   
\--  
   
As I come back to consciousness, another voice comes to haunt me.  
   
——You know what you did. You broke him.——  
   
I murmur dazedly that that's wrong, even though I know it's true… Where's Koujaku? I don't even know where I am.  
   
——This is your fault. All of it.——  
   
The reality of this is almost as painful as the needles they put into me.  
   
——You’ve already messed up this much…You should just disappear...——


	2. Black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoba continues to struggle against the voice inside that haunts him while his body is subjected to...changes.

My pulse races. My head pounds.  
   
It hurts. Burns...  
   
My skin feels cold, yet on fire at the same time. I'm covered in an icy sweat.  
   
My throat is raw. No voice comes out. I remember now--they paralyzed that too when I tried to Scrap the doctors.  
   
I'm writhing at times, fighting pain both inside and out. The knowledge that I caused this—I broke Koujaku. My Voice lets me know no reprieve of this fact. 

The Voice inside my head.  
   
It's getting louder.  
   
Telling me I should 'just disappear.'  
   
\--  
   
"Put him in isolation."  
   
This voice is different, but familiar. I've only ever heard it over the television before...  
   
Toue.  
   
My head lurches. My eyes won't focus.  
   
I pass out again...  
   
For now, sleep is better. I still can't escape the other me, but sleep is better... The rest of what they say is lost to me as the pounding headache lurches in my ears.  
   
\--  
   
Dark. Wet.  
   
This is the new environment I'm in.  
   
I wake up in a pool of liquid. The temperature is strangely lukewarm. It feels like an extension of my own body.  
   
I hate it.

The air is still and suffocating.  
   
As if there wasn't already an overwhelming presence in my own mind... Now there is no other sound. Nothing else to distract me...  
   
My own breathing.  
   
It gets quicker.  
   
I'm panicking.  
   
I move in the dark with a sloughing of watery liquid. It clings to my hair, drips down my back.  
   
I feel it too keenly.  
   
I shiver.  
   
"Hello?" I call feebly. At least I can speak again…  
   
——They won't hear you...—— my voice tells me. It’s the only answer I hear.  
   
\--  
   
Silence. Laughter.  
Darkness. More silence.

It’s deafening.  
   
For the umpteenth time, my fists pound on the metal chamber. It's solid. There’s not even a dull thud. I'm screaming, but I know no one can hear me... No one but him...  
   
More laughter.  
   
I scream again, trying to drown him out. How long have I been crying? My heart thuds in my chest. I'm alone here--yet I'm not alone. 

“Let me out!!”  
   
——Let me out!—— he echoes. He’s mocking me…and also pleading with me. I don’t understand him.  
   
I feel like I'm drowning. The only one here is me, and yet... I'm not alone. This fact is suffocating me. This other me is someone I don’t want to know…I don’t want others to see him…and yet, I’m so tired. I’m scared.   
   
——Let me out…—— More softly this time. He's insistent. Sometimes yelling, sometimes a tantalizing whisper... I never really know what to expect...  
   
My head pounds. More tears melt down my cheeks. I don't want to give in.  
   
——Let me out.——  
   
"No!" But the answer has less heat than all the times before. How long have I fought it? How much longer can I go?  
   
\--  
   
This place is only tall enough to crouch at best. 

I'm so tired...  
   
I shudder to my knees, landing again in the lukewarm water. I messed up. This knowledge never fails to haunt me...  
   
Scrap.  
   
This is me.  
   
I messed up again.  
   
Koujaku...  
   
Another pounding at my skull.

I cry. More laughter. I wonder when exactly I started to realize that low cackle resonated and flowed from my own lips...


	3. White

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone else takes over...

"I.... am 'Aoba.'"   
   
I smile as the words leave my lips. My lips. 

I feel them. My fingers feel cool, but good. My lips are soft. Slightly cracked in places…

I stick my tongue into these tender areas. It’s raw, and I lick them. I pluck at thin layers of skin pealing up with my teeth. I gnaw at them.

The flavor is salty. The salt is from the water they’ve left me in.

I’m laying back in it now.   
   
This is their game. It's quiet. My heart rate has slowed again. I don't even need to close my eyes. Open, closed--it makes no difference. There is only black.  
   
Silence. Darkness.  
   
And me.  
   
I'm floating. I couldn’t drown even if I wanted to--the liquid keeps me afloat. It's dense.  
   
It's soothing. Boring.  
   
I'm ready to be out of here.  
   
\--  
   
Silence. No screaming.  
   
I must have won. I don't hear him any more...  
   
It’s dull... and somewhat sad...  
But it's fine. I'm stronger. There's no need for him here. Let him sleep. Cry. Then sleep again.  
   
It's his turn to be forgotten.  
   
I look around in the darkness. I can’t see anything…  
   
There are cameras--I know there are cameras.  
They can see me.  
They can hear me.  
   
They've heard all my cries.  
A soft chuckle.  
   
Those bastards...  
   
\--

When at last the door does open, the light is blinding. I shy away from it.  
   
They come in after.  
   
Just how long did it take to break this body, I wonder...?  
   
Grasping under my arms, they drag me from my cell.  
   
I am a weak and pathetic thing.  
   
I shiver.  
   
A robe is draped around me.  
   
I pull it closer. The texture of it is almost too much against my skin. I feel raw. 

I try to crack open an eye.  
   
Silhouettes. That's all I see.  
   
There's still a ringing in my ears.  
   
There's no sound, but even the air fills the void and roars in comparison to the stillness of my chamber.  
   
I want to go back in.  
   
This world is too intense.  
   
There’s too much to take in. 

When did everything become so loud? But no one has said a thing…  
   
The fabric is too rough. My nerves are electric. Every touch is a dull pain compared to the nothing of my darkness.  
   
I could go back...  
   
I want to go back...  
   
I can't go back...  
   
A silhouette stands before me.  
   
Arms open and surround me.  
I bristle against them.  
   
It's him.  
   
"I have so much to show you," he said--as though he would take me by the hand and give me the world...

His voice resonates through me. 

It’s so loud, yet he spoke so softly…

I’m overwhelmed. 

My brow furrows unhappily.  
   
\--  
   
The truth is, I don't hate Toue. At best, perhaps I owe him for this new life I have. At worst, I have no real opinion of him at all...   
   
I’ve been recuperating. 

I remember taking in my first drink of water. It was cool, almost sweet even. My prison was wet, but that was certainly not to drink…it was salty.  
   
An isolation tank. Sensory deprivation.   
   
That's what Toue said it was. He said they had run some tests, and I needed time to heal properly.  
   
He didn't mention anything about my mental state, though surely he could tell the difference. Or maybe he didn’t care.  
   
As my eyes adjusted I could see what had been done--why my skin felt raw, my hair. Why it burned both inside and out. The tests they must have done... I have no idea how they could do this, why they would do this. I suppose it doesn't matter. Every inch of me...  
   
Pure white.


End file.
